Once again, I learned about this bar through Instagram. Instagram has been a wealth of knowledge and I love the network of fellow chocoholics who share about what chocolate bars they are enjoying. I’ve seen Cacaosuyo shared on Instagram on a few occasions, but I didn’t really think about grabbing one for myself until I found them on Bar & Cocoa’s website (they used to be called Choco Rush).

The only Cacaosuyo bar available at the time was this Lakuna bar. The back of the bar mentions the tasting notes as being floral and fruity. The inner wrapper briefly talks about Cacaosuyo’s goal of providing memories of the Incan empire. Their name represents “the land of the four Suyos” in Peru where the cacao for this bar is produced.

One of coworkers, who is from Peru, said that Cacaosuyo meant the “region of cacao” or the “land of cacao.” He said they were based not far from where he lived when he was in Peru. He also said that apparently in the past the Incan language was not supposed to be spoken in Peru due to conflict going on within the country (I can’t remember his exact words), but lately there has been a resurgence in remembering them. His sister-in-law is studying their language.

I smelled nutty, blackberry and woody scents. On the other hand, I first tasted a light floral flavor which increased into what reminded me of lavender. The floral disappeared midway through my bite and a light nutty flavor developed. My bite ended with light cocoa and fruity flavors. Though the texture was very smooth, the chocolate took a long time to melt. Usually I let a piece of chocolate sit and slowly melt so I can see what flavor story unfolds. This time I just had to straight up eat it to taste any progress.

Bar & Cocoa’s website describes a honey flavor that I didn’t catch. But my Peruvian coworker and another coworker tried this bar. One of them could taste all three floral, fruity and honey flavors (he described the floral as being in a bed of lavender). The other said they tasted only the floral and fruity flavors.

The flavors were very subtle for this bar, which isn’t a bad thing since I tend to like subtle. Though I can’t say I was head over heels for this bar, my two coworkers kept coming back for more. If I see recommendations for another type of Cacaosuyo bar, I’d definitely be willing to give them another try.